A diagram showing the search area for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean that was shown on March 20, 2014. Malaysia, China and Australia have agreed to re-examine all data related to missing flight to better pinpoint the search area, Malaysia's acting transport minister said on Thursday, May 15, 2015. --FILE PHOTO: REUTERS

KUALA LUMPUR/SYDNEY (REUTERS) - Malaysia, China and Australia have agreed to re-examine all data related to missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 to better pinpoint the search area, Malaysia's acting transport minister said on Thursday, as the hunt for the jet enters a new phase.

The three countries also agreed at a meeting in Canberra last week to undertake a survey to map the ocean floor and procure more deep-sea search vehicles and other equipment to scour it, minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

"I have briefed the Malaysia cabinet yesterday on the outcome of the meeting and it has been deliberated. I now have the mandate to announce that the details of the transition phase have been approved by the Malaysian government," he said.

The Boeing 777 with 239 passengers and crew disappeared on March 8 during a scheduled service between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, and is believed to have gone down in the Indian Ocean, off western Australia. About two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese nationals.